Chapter 489: Energy Specialization

A short while later, after Genjo had clarified everything with only a few simple explanations, yet somehow left Chiriku feeling as though he had become even more confused, Chiriku delivered his master's message before leaving the valley along the same path, carrying with him a stomach full of fresh doubts and astonishment.

Genjo remained seated where he was, calmly watching Chiriku's retreating figure grow farther and farther away. The corners of his lips curved slightly into a meaningful smile.

From the very beginning, Shinichi had faced no small dilemma regarding Sage Jutsu-related talents.

There were simply far too few people in the current Shinobi World who knew about Sage Jutsu or Nature Energy.

Among that tiny minority, the overwhelming majority merely knew that Sage Jutsu existed. They had no idea how it actually worked, much less how to use it.

As for Shinichi himself, he could only be considered half-knowledgeable on the path of Sage Jutsu.

Yet for related talents to continue upgrading, the most crucial factor was recognition.

Enough people needed to understand it and acknowledge it.

This was undoubtedly an enormous disadvantage for Shinichi.

Therefore, he not only had to educate people, but also fabricate. Not only did he have to fabricate, but he had to do it convincingly, making it sound profound, grand, and unfathomable the moment people heard it.

Thus, Shinichi took theories from his previous life concerning the unity of heaven and man, following the Dao of nature, the innate realm, and similar concepts, stitching them together piece by piece.

After repeatedly refining and polishing them, he forcibly assembled an entire Sage Jutsu cultivation system that sounded mysterious beyond comprehension, yet somehow seemed internally consistent.

As for whether Sage Jutsu could actually reach the incredible heights Shinichi had fabricated, that was completely unimportant.

What mattered was making the world aware of Sage Jutsu's existence, and convincing everyone from the bottom of their hearts that Genjo and Shinichi's mastery of Sage Jutsu had reached unimaginable heights, higher than the heavens themselves. That alone was enough.

When that day came, upgrading his Sage Jutsu-related talents would undoubtedly become much faster.

Thinking of this, Genjo silently called up his personal status panel.

[Name: Genjo]

[Occupation: Jōnin / Zen Master]

[Talent: Energy Specialization (Blue)...]

Compared to two months ago, Genjo's personal status panel had undergone several more changes.

The most obvious change was that the Wandering Monk occupation had quietly upgraded to Zen Master.

[Zen Master: you have become a teacher deeply accomplished in both Buddhist teachings and cultivation, qualified to preside over a temple. Your efficiency in achieving deeper perception of Nature energy and in maintaining the stable balance between Nature energy, Physical energy, and Spiritual energy to form Senjutsu chakra is greatly increased. You are also able to guide others more effectively along this path of cultivation.]

This upgrade was hardly surprising. Although Genjo had previously remained obscure and his origins were shrouded in mystery, he possessed Wood Style.

After all, Wood Style was the signature Kekkei Genkai that had enabled the first Hokage to dominate the Shinobi World and bring an end to the age of war.

As a result, news about Genjo had spread throughout the Shinobi World over the past two months, with countless factions and even ordinary civilians eagerly investigating his background and origins.

This overwhelming wave of attention naturally generated a tremendous amount of recognition feedback, gradually pushing Wandering Monk up to the level of Zen Master, even though most people had no idea about the specific ranks within the Monk Occupation.

That was also because the outside world's recognition of Genjo only amounted to about sixty percent of the original body's, unlike Isshin, which occasionally benefited from the original body's dual recognition in the Swordsman occupation.

After all, the fact that Shinichi had once been an officially recognized Swordsman had long since been uncovered by numerous news reports.

Since Shinichi himself was not a monk, Genjo could only rely on its own accumulation in the Monk Occupation and could not benefit from multiple layers of recognition through the original body.

Otherwise, Shinichi's Monk Occupation would probably have reached the fourth level by now.

As for the newly acquired Energy Specialization in the talent section, it had naturally been obtained from the reward draw when Wandering Monk upgraded to Zen Master.

It was precisely because of this talent that Shinichi was able to freely convert different forms of energy into one another.

A feat that would be considered utterly unbelievable anywhere in today's Shinobi World.

[Energy Specialization (Blue): You possess extraordinarily refined control over all kinds of energy, and your perception of and ability to balance energies of different forms and properties far surpass those of ordinary people. You have an exceptional instinct for sensing and harmonizing them.]

Judging from its literal meaning, this was a talent with an extremely broad scope.

After all, Physical energy, Spiritual energy, Nature energy, and chakra were all forms of energy. In contrast, kinetic energy, potential energy, chemical energy, sound energy, nuclear energy, and even zero-point energy also fall under the category of energy.

However, after experimenting with it himself, Shinichi discovered that its actual range of effect was currently limited to Physical energy, Spiritual energy, Nature energy, and chakra (including Senjutsu chakra).

As for whether it might expand into broader fields in the future, that remained unknown for the time being.

Unlike the previous talent, this one did not provide Shinichi with any direct increase in his base attributes. It merely made his perception and application of these three forms of energy and chakra far more effortless and intuitive.

Ordinarily, although Physical energy and Spiritual energy are closely connected, they can only influence one another and cannot be directly converted into each other.

For example, when the body falls ill, one's mental state inevitably becomes listless. Likewise, someone burdened by unresolved worries and prolonged depression will gradually become physically weak and sickly as well.

But this relationship is ultimately only an indirect influence. One cannot directly convert Physical energy into Spiritual energy, nor can one directly use Spiritual energy to replenish the body's deficiencies.

After obtaining the Energy Specialization talent, Shinichi was already able to convert Physical energy and Spiritual energy into each other to a certain extent.

As for Genjo, who possessed the sage body, he had gone a step further and could now perform limited conversion of the Nature energy in the environment to replenish his own depleted condition.

At present, however, whether it was Shinichi or Genjo, they both had to remain completely focused while converting energy. The slightest lapse in concentration could cause all their efforts to go to waste.

This ability was still unusable in the rapidly changing circumstances of battle, but after combat, depending on the situation, it could be used to quickly restore one's condition, making it an excellent trump card.

Even so, that alone was already of tremendous importance.

Because it meant that the entire grand and lofty Sage Jutsu system Shinichi had previously conceived truly had the potential to become reality in the future.

That is, continuously drawing in the Nature energy of heaven and earth during battle. As long as Nature energy remained inexhaustible, one's own condition would endure indefinitely.

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